First IVF Consultation: What Don’t You Know Yet and What You Should Expect? Visiting a fertility clinic can be intimidating, especially if it is your first session with a Fertility Consultant. It is normal to wonder about “what to expect at the first IVF consultation?”, “how much time does it take?”, “what questions to ask?”, “what tests will be done?”, “how long does it take to get the test results?”, “what follows the first session?” It is normal to overthink the littlest of situations, starting with “What If...?” and leading to the positive and negative scenarios bustling in your mind. And it is normal to feel like a bundle of nerves every time you realize that the Event Date is coming closer and closer. Indeed, everyone’s experience is unique, but most first appointments are just another appointment that unlocks the potential of options. It can last under one hour of the hour and a half. It can involve some fertility tests, or if you feel uncomfortable undergoing testing, you can ask your fertility consultant to postpone it and take some time to rethink everything you have discussed. It is your first step, and only you are taking back control of your fertility journey.
While all clinics do vary in their process, there are some things you can expect when you go in for your initial fertility consultation. And knowing “what to be ready for” may alleviate your anxiety, make you feel less overwhelmed with emotion and think logically instead of worrying, or at least help you feel more prepared for the first visit.
Here is what to expect at a fertility clinic, including the primary focus of that most eagerly anticipated first appointment.
The first session will be a meeting with the IVF nurse, mostly always running beautifully on time. No matter how many online forms you have already completed and added your digital signature, there are always more to fill out and sign in the clinic. It is a never-ending pile of papers for ticking boxes and signatures. Once all the forms are completed and signed away, and your ID or your passport is taken for making a copy to check that you are who you say you are and not someone else, the nurse will enclose a copy of your ID with your application and papers and take you to see the Fertility Consultant.
While you are on a call with the clinic’s receptionist booking a consultation, ask what you need for the first session. Most likely, you will be asked to bring the following:
And if you are setting an appointment for yourself and your partner, you will need to bring your partner’s identification documents, medical records, and copies of all test results that may have been done.
Think you are prepared for your first session? Think deeper. Preparing for your first session might not be so easy. But following these six tips will make prepping more structured and less stressful.
Your fertility consultant will also have a discussion about your family history, including specific genetic disorders that can be transmitted to the baby. A family history can help determine whether someone in your or your partner’s family is a carrier of a genetic disorder or has an increased genetic risk of having or developing certain diseases, disorders, or conditions.
Having a copy of your records is essential when you start an IVF treatment. Your health records include vital information like any conditions or allergies you have and any medication you are taking, and a list of all current medications and/or medical conditions, too. It can help your fertility consultant keep track of your health information before IVF, throughout IVF, and beyond.
Your fertility consultant will have many questions for you. Be ready to disclose as much information as you can, especially when it comes to things like your menstrual cycles and any symptoms you noticed, what medication you are currently on, how long you have stopped birth control, and how long you’ve been trying to conceive. Make notes on your fertility history not to forget the essential details while answering questions.
While questions are hustling in your mind, transform them into words. Take notes on what you are wondering about and would like to have answers. Even if you cannot shape the question correctly, add the keynotes to it. Keeping a list of questions you want to ask your fertility consultant is helpful in covering everything you want to know.
Call your insurance company to find out does your health insurance plan cover fertility treatments if the clinic you’re scheduled to visit is a clinic they work with, how many cycles of infertility treatment will be covered, and what limitations they include within the coverage. Some insurance plans may cover in vitro fertilization (IVF) but don’t cover the accompanying injections. Other plans cover both. Some plans cover limited attempts at certain treatments like IUI, IVF, vitrification and storage of the oocytes and embryos, Genetic Testing IVF, or FET. Some plans cover only the retrieval and fertilization of your eggs. And some plans do not cover IVF at all.
At your first appointment, you will meet with your Personal Assistant/Case Manager, your dedicated Fertility Consultant, and your IVF Nurse, a Financial Counselor, who will all be presenting you with a lot of information. Bring a notebook and take notes throughout your first visit to help you remember all of the general, medical, financial, and contact information. Having this information at hand can make it easier for you to discuss and digest the roadmap of your appointment and further steps.
Meeting your Fertility Consultant for the first time might be challenging, especially if you are not prepared for it. You can be curious, flexible, results–oriented, and a dedicated problem solver, but the ability to think “out of the box” will disappear the same moment you enter the consultant’s office. Like all appointments, this appointment will be unintentionally overwhelming. And unlike all appointments, it will be emotionally overwhelming. Dozens of intelligent questions will bustle through your mind before the consultation, but when you are in the room, your blank mind results in you staring, smiling, isolating just a few questions, and forgetting about 80% of what you were going to ask. So before coming to your first session, prepare a list of questions. While isolating questions and taking the keynotes on what you would like to know, you’ll create a seamless structure for the upcoming session without missing the essential details, and it will let you converse freely and comfortably with your fertility specialist.
Making the Blueprint of questions to ask at the first appointment or keynoting things you cannot transform into questions will help you to understand deeper the IVF process and its timeline, the steps to take, when to consider alternative options or backups, and what to expect from the next stage. You may have loads of your questions, but if you are not sure where to start, take a look at 69 Questions to Ask Your Fertility Consultant at Your First Visit below and adapt them to your situation.
While you might be nervous about your upcoming first visit, there is a lot to be excited about it too. You may expect many things, including scaring and intimidating ones, but it will be simply a consultation, with nothing directly happening as a result other than further appointments being scheduled, and you will be spending the remainder of the day in an overwhelmed fit of emotions and questions. You wait for so long, counting down the days until this Event that you anticipate marking the start of the IVF journey. But on leaving the clinic, you will realize that it is just another appointment (but valuable) and that there is more waiting still to come. And although this is just another appointment as you may think, it will allow you to explore your options and back–up options, how IVF works, what to expect from the IVF process & timeline, the key insights of the process, medications, Egg Donor Back–Up, fertilization, Preimplantation Genetic Testing benefits & risks, embryo grading, mock transfer, vitrification of the embryos, FET, and much more.
It is worth noting that the first consultation can be only a discussion of options without clinical evaluation and may involve clinical evaluation. If your initial consulting doesn’t involve fertility tests, it will last between 30 minutes and 1 hour. And if an IVF appointment also includes testing, expect to spend between 1 and 2 hours at the IVF clinic.
For appointments that include consultation and clinical evaluation, the first part is routinely a general consultation, starting with a discussion. The discussion during an initial consultation can vary according to personal circumstances and health issues. But basically, most of the first sessions cover the following:
The next part of the first appointment is a clinical evaluation. This usually includes a pelvic exam and an ultrasound scan, which provides your fertility consultant with extensive information regarding the health of your ovaries and uterus. Blood work, a urine sample, and x–rays may also be requested. And if your partner comes with you, blood work and semen sample tests may be requested too.
Finally, your fertility consultant will discuss possible options, although the treatment protocol may not be finalized until a future visit, as your lab work data will give some insight into tailoring the IVF program for your case. In either case, coming to the follow–up consultation will give you an opportunity to talk about fertility treatment options concerning your situation and will shape you some key insights into what might come next.
Before the time of your appointment runs to the end, your fertility consultant will schedule fertility tests that should be done before starting an IVF. Each patient is unique, so the same diagnostic testing protocol is also tailored to each case. After carrying out an extensive evaluation and taking into account your personal needs, your fertility consultant will generate a unique diagnostic testing protocol for your situation.
To understand the cause of infertility, you will need to share a full medical history and undergo noninvasive and slightly invasive testing. Tests to determine Female Factor Infertility include:
To determine the cause of infertility, you will need to disclose your medical history and undergo noninvasive testing. Tests to determine Male Factor Infertility include:
It may sound like a Déjà vu, but you will have one more meeting with an IVF nurse before leaving the IVF clinic. Following the meeting with your consultant, you will have a further meeting with the nurse who will book you in for the “Preparing and administering the medication” appointment. You will be given a Guide to the IVF Process & Timeline, some brochures and leaflets on what long and short protocol means, fertility treatment medication, what embryo biopsy involves, and more IVF–related topics, and sent on your way.
After contacting an IVF clinic for a virtual or in–person consultation, you will power up the countdown for this event. You will be trying to guess “why you cannot get pregnant,” “what is wrong with you,” “when your IVF cycle will be started,” and “how to prepare for an upcoming meeting with your fertility consultant.” Sometimes you will be anxious about the IVF journey — tests, needles, blood draws, bruises, injectable hormones, egg retrieval, fertilization, viable and non–viable embryos, mock transfer, transfer, pregnancy test, and (take a deep breath), ultrasound scan that shows that you will have an IVF bump. And from time to time, you will concentrate not on how hard it is to start an IVF journey but on having those 10 little fingers, 10 little toes in your hands. And the first step towards the creation of your Miracle is an IVF appointment.
The initial IVF consultation seems like the start of the IVF process, and it is the appointment that you will be eagerly counting down the days until. But this isn’t actual. It is the first step on your road to IVF. And starting the IVF cycle may take longer than you expected — a couple of weeks or even months. Just prepare yourself for this. And take the initial consultation for what it is. It is the important first step towards IVF, but ultimately, it is just a meeting with your fertility consultant and an IVF nurse. No more and no less. But IVF is on its way.